Revolutionary iPad and iPad 2 Music Production, Performance and Creation Now Available

iPad and iPad 2 music production is now possible with the world’s first pro audio dock for iPad, linking apps with microphones, instruments, MIDI, audio and video

Cumberland, R.I. (June 23, 2011) – Alesis, a leading manufacturer of professional audio equipment and electronic drums, announces the iO Dock, the world’s first pro-audio dock for Apple’s iPad and iPad 2 is now shipping to pro-audio and instrument retailers everywhere.

The iO Dock is the missing link between the iPad, its associated App Store’s catalog of audio and video apps, and the entire world of professional audio equipment. Songwriters, music producers and performers of all kinds will find that the iO Dock turns an iPad into a professional music studio by connecting the iPad’s powerful processor, touch-screen interface and extensive library of apps, to their collection of microphones, instruments, professional speaker and PA systems, MIDI controllers, sound modules, video projectors and much more.

With the iO Dock and an iPad or iPad 2, musicians and producers can record, perform, create and craft music in virtually any conceivable manner or location. Built to accommodate current app-development standards including Core MIDI and Akai Pro’s AkaiConnect SDK, the iO Dock is a universal iPad audio-recording, playback, and MIDI device that bridges the user’s choice of music-creation and performance apps with virtually all professional input and output instruments and devices.

The iO Dock provides microphone and instrument users with two combination XLR and 1/4-inch inputs, each with its own gain control and switchable phantom power for condenser microphones. Guitarists will appreciate the iO Dock’s guitar-direct switch, enabling them to play, perform and record right into amplifier and effects-modeling apps. Bands can connect outputs from their mixer to easily record their performances and rehearsals or use the iO Dock as a metronome or loop-playback device on stage. Producers can use the iO Dock for iPad music production, using its MIDI and USB-MIDI jacks to sequence external keyboards, samplers, drum machines and synthesizers, or perform using the iO Dock as the sound module connected to their favorite MIDI keyboard, drum pad or other controller. An assignable 1/4-inch footswitch input enables remote control of any app-defined function such as stop/start or record. Users can also connect the iO Dock to their Mac or PC using the USB port to remote-control software with faders, transport controls or any other MIDI-compliant control app.

Musicians can connect the iO Dock’s stereo pair of 1/4-inch main outputs to studio monitors for critical listening, or to PA systems for use in performance settings. They can monitor on headphones, and independently control the levels of the main and headphone outputs, each on its own knob. Recording musicians will appreciate the iO Dock’s direct-monitor switch, which enables them to toggle between the incoming and playback signal on their headphones. Rounding out the iO Dock’s output section is a composite video connector, enabling users to employ the iO Dock as a source for video projection behind bands on stage, or for connection to most televisions and computer monitors.

“Since its release, the iPad has captured the interest of forward-looking musicians,” said Dan Radin, Product Manager, Alesis. “There are lots of music apps in the App Store, but before the iO Dock, there hasn’t been a professional way to interface your music gear with iPad.”

The Alesis iO Dock is now available from musical instrument and pro audio retailers everywhere with a U.S. Retail Price of $399.00 and an estimated street price of $199.00. For more information about the iO Dock, please visit http://www.alesis.com/iodock.

iPad, App Store, Apple and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.